Why so many casualties?
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shark_tamer
Contributor
It was not intended to be a joke and I'm dead serious !!!
You've been to the Carribean ? Too often have I heard :
" Got certified 5 years ago while on vacation, and haven't dive since "
... and the DM/Instructor wants to insta-budy me with him !!!! :no
Insta-buddy me with this guy at the rear of the boat who doesn't put on his BC before his weight belt, and doesn't have to be told how to install his 1st stage the right way !!!
Looks can be deceiving, but I probably won't ask this guy's log book or C-card !!!
What surprises me is that there are not more dive accidents. I have seen things that made my eyes bug out, but the divers got away with amazingly stupid feats.
I think the fact that so many borderline divers do advanced dives and no one gets hurt indicates that scuba diving, for the most part, is extremely safe. If you do not do too adventuresome solo dives or pair poor and inexperienced divers on a difficult dive, things usually turn out okay.
This is not an endorsement of diving beyond one's ability or training, only an observation that someone out there is looking out for stupid divers since they aren't dropping like flies.
I think the fact that so many borderline divers do advanced dives and no one gets hurt indicates that scuba diving, for the most part, is extremely safe. If you do not do too adventuresome solo dives or pair poor and inexperienced divers on a difficult dive, things usually turn out okay.
This is not an endorsement of diving beyond one's ability or training, only an observation that someone out there is looking out for stupid divers since they aren't dropping like flies.
Most of the time it isn't practicable. Even if the diver has a logbook with them it takes too long to read through it, for very little benefit. I can usually tell within a few minutes of talking to someone whether they're likely to be a decent diver, and usually within seconds of them getting in the water. Log books aren't controlled. Nor are dive certification cards worth much either, as they seem to be given out with packets of cornflakes these days. But they do work effectively in one way - they tell the diver very definitely that he is responsible for his own well-being. We'll do our best to help him of course, but ultimately his dive is his responsibility.
We dive as groups so buddy pairing is of less significance here, but elsewhere I share people's dread of being paired up with someone who will ruin their dive. It's happened to me enough. But I generally adopt a philosophical view that we've all been there at some point, and if people had refused to dive with us then we would have had a lousy time.
This is one reason I generally dive solo when I'm pleasure diving, here or elsewhere. Luckily the groups I dive with when I'm back home in England all dive that way anyway.
But I'm with Charlie in the view that current statistics show how safe diving is, not how dangerous.
It was not intended to be a joke and I'm dead serious !!!
You've been to the Carribean ? Too often have I heard :
" Got certified 5 years ago while on vacation, and haven't dive since "
... and the DM/Instructor wants to insta-budy me with him !!!! :no
Insta-buddy me with this guy at the rear of the boat who doesn't put on his BC before his weight belt, and doesn't have to be told how to install his 1st stage the right way !!!
Looks can be deceiving, but I probably won't ask this guy's log book or C-card !!!
So don't dive with him. You can turn down any buddy. You want to impose silly rules on everyone because you don't have the balls to say, "no." Sorry, that is a very poor excuse.
I am a dive instructor and a diver for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office (the fabulous Florida Keys). This is my personal take on the subject . I find the fatalities generally fall into 1 of 3 catagories.
1.) Inexperiance , this may be a new diver or a diver that has little or no experiance in the open ocean.
2.) Poor health, Once apon a time scuba divers were expected to look like Mike Nelson, this is no longer the case. I don't think it is nessessary for divers to be olympic swimmers, but the notion of "teaching the world to dive" is wrong. Yes, diving can be very relaxing, but can become very strenuous without warning.
3.) (This is a Biggie) Complacancy !!! This has been the down fall of divers of every skill level. From lobster divers running out of air in 25' of water, to the Technically trained divers that died on the Spiegle Grove. They both had the mind set that these were routine dives, and it cost them dearly.
One last point to think about: Every case that I have personally been involved in has 1 commonality. The lead was still in place.
Dive Safe
Trtldvr
www.divealive.org
1.) Inexperiance , this may be a new diver or a diver that has little or no experiance in the open ocean.
2.) Poor health, Once apon a time scuba divers were expected to look like Mike Nelson, this is no longer the case. I don't think it is nessessary for divers to be olympic swimmers, but the notion of "teaching the world to dive" is wrong. Yes, diving can be very relaxing, but can become very strenuous without warning.
3.) (This is a Biggie) Complacancy !!! This has been the down fall of divers of every skill level. From lobster divers running out of air in 25' of water, to the Technically trained divers that died on the Spiegle Grove. They both had the mind set that these were routine dives, and it cost them dearly.
One last point to think about: Every case that I have personally been involved in has 1 commonality. The lead was still in place.
Dive Safe
Trtldvr
www.divealive.org
When dives go right then most people have no problems. It's when something goes wrong that the difference between a skilled diver and a once-a-year holiday diver becomes clear. Unskilled divers simply can't deal with the situation and often respond by panicking and/or drowning. Diving is safe because things so rarely go wrong...
Tigerman
Contributor
I think its a combination of several things, mainly;
1. More people diving, alas more accidents happen (Which is my answer to my poll as it is as far as I see it, the main thing) and
2. People diving beyond their limits..
1. More people diving, alas more accidents happen (Which is my answer to my poll as it is as far as I see it, the main thing) and
2. People diving beyond their limits..
4 Reasons Divers Die - Scuba Diving Magazine
https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/index.asp
Click on the thumbnail to see total US and Canadian Deaths over the last 20 years.
https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/index.asp
Click on the thumbnail to see total US and Canadian Deaths over the last 20 years.
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